Don’t miss this important deadline for topping up your State Pension
Topping up your State Pension could boost your income in retirement. Make sure you don’t miss this important deadline on 5 April 2025
A lot of the work we do with clients revolves around retirement planning and making sure you have enough savings to pay for your lifestyle and enjoy yourself. We talk a lot about your workplace or private pensions that you pay into because these might provide the bulk of your income.
But don’t forget about the State Pension. In 2024/25, the full amount is £221.20 a week, and that normally goes up every year.
The “triple lock” means that the State Pension amount rises by the higher of:
- Inflation
- Average wage growth
- 2.5%.
That means in 2025/26, the payment will go up to £230.25 a week.
So, the State Pension gives you a regular income that’s designed to keep up with the cost of living. Even better, you get the payments for the rest of your life.
But there is a catch. You might not get the full amount.
You need 35 “qualifying years” of National Insurance contributions to get the full State Pension payment
When you turn 66 (this is rising to 67 from April 2026), you can start claiming your State Pension, but you don’t get the full amount unless you have 35 “qualifying years” of National Insurance contributions (NICs).
A qualifying year is any year when you were:
- Working and paying NICs
- Getting NI credits if you were sick or unemployed
- Paying voluntary NICs.
You need 10 qualifying years before you get any State Pension at all, then the amount goes up on a sliding scale until you have 35 qualifying years and get the full amount.
If you’ve been working most of your life, you might easily hit the 35-year target. But if you worked abroad for a while or took time out to raise a family, you could have some gaps in your NI record.
The good news is you can fill those gaps to make sure you get the full State Pension amount.
You only have until 5 April 2025 to fill gaps in your National Insurance record back to 2006
If you think you have gaps in your NI record, you might want to fill them as soon as possible. You can check your NI record on the government website and see how much you’re likely to get when you claim your State Pension.
Then, if you need to, you can make payments to plug the gaps, so you can reach the 35-year target and get more State Pension when you retire.
Normally, you can only make payments for the last six tax years. But when the government moved to the new State Pension, they set up a temporary arrangement that allowed you to make payments all the way back to April 2006.
So far, more than 37,000 contributions – adding up to a total of £35 million – have been made online by people topping up their State Pension[1].
If you want to get in on the act and top up your State Pension, you’ll need to move quickly. The government has shifted the deadline for this temporary arrangement a couple of times but it’s finally ending on 5 April 2025.
After that, you’ll only be able to fill gaps for the last six years, so you could miss out on a chance to boost your income in retirement.
Think about whether it’s worth topping up your National Insurance record
Before you start making any extra NI payments, you’ll want to think about whether it’s worth it. The answer to this question depends on a couple of things, including your age and how many years you’re missing from your record.
Usually, it costs £824 to buy a full year of NICs, and this gives you an extra £328 a year in pre-tax State Pension payments[2]. So, you need to survive for at least three years after getting your State Pension to make the extra payment worthwhile.
Sometimes, it might cost more than £824 to buy the full year, depending on when you have gaps. You could have partial years as well, so you’ll only need to pay a small amount to get the full annual payment. It’s worth looking into this, and we can help you work out exactly what you’ll need to pay so you can decide whether it’s worth it or not.
If you’re missing a lot of years, it could be expensive to top up your NI record and you might not get that investment back.
Your age makes a difference too. If you’re only a couple of years away from retirement, it could be worth paying to top up your NI record because you might not fill those gaps any other way. But if you’re in your 40s and plan to work for another 25 years, you could easily hit the 35-year target without paying any extra.
If you’re not sure whether to top up your State Pension, we can give you some advice.
Get in touch
If you have any questions about pensions or other retirement and financial planning issues, book an appointment with your adviser.
Otherwise, if you don’t have an adviser yet, head to the contact page on our website to find an office near you.
Approved by Best Practice IFA Group on 5th March 2025.
[1] 19.02.2025 £35 million added to State Pension pots Today’s Wills and Probate
[2] 19.02.2025 Aged 40 to 73? Urgently consider buying National Insurance years MoneySavingExpert
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